Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T's wireless unit, shows off the iPhone 3G to eager customers waiting outside the Atlanta AT&T store. Unfortunately a glitch left these customers and others unable to activate their phone. (Source: Shawn Ramsey)

Apple's new dream gadget sees a less than stellar debut

The 3G iPhone launch seemed fated for success. After
months of anticipation, the day was upon loyal Apple fans. As they camped
in their Apple tents outside stores, visions of Steve Jobs delivering them
rectangular shaped presents danced through their heads. When they awoke
crowds had formed, and their dreams were about to become reality.
Everything seemed perfect -- with naught
a riot or robber in sight.

As the orderly lines began to shuffle into the Apple stores and get their new
phones; that’s was when the problems began. For all its savvy design
work, and for all the months of engineering, Apple and its partner AT&T
were wholly taken aback by a plethora of glitches
that crippled the new phones.

Frederick Smalls, an insurance broker in Whitman, Massachusetts was among the
loyal fans, turned angry critics. After trying to get his new 3G iPhone
to work for two hours with no success, he remarked, "It's such grief and
aggravation."

As customers bought the new phone, which comes equipped with a higher-speed
data connection and a GPS chip, they discovered alarmingly that they could
not activate their phones. The culprit according to an AT&T spokesman
was a glitch in Apple's iTunes servers that made it so the phones could not be
fully activated in store.

Managers told customers patiently to take the phones home and complete the
activation process. However, customers found to their dismay that at home
Apple's servers were equally unresponsive.

The problem, which some are dubbing "the great iMess", even left
owners of the older model of iPhones without service. The old iPhones received
a firmware update, which required reactivation. They were similarly
unable to reach the servers.

With the phones crippled for hours, only emergency calls could be made.
Freelance photographer Giovanni Cipriano, who updated his first-gen iPhone, was
not happy. He stated, "It's a mess."

The original iPhone launched with at-home activation only. With the new
iPhone, subsidization by carriers caused AT&T to want to activate in
store.

The problems closely followed glitches with Apple's MobileMe
service, which launched Thursday. The MobileMe service, which synchronizes
a user's personal data across devices -- including the iPhone -- would not
allow many users to log on.

From there it was all downhill for Apple. Alex Cavallo was among those
waiting in New York. He remains an Apple fan, but admits that it was an
unpleasant experience as he had to use another phone. After being used to
the iPhone, he describes his use of the standard phone as
"uncomfortable".

With its attractive line of products, including the iPhone, iPod, and MacBook
Air, it certainly has an attractive brand image. As Nick Epperson, a
24-year-old graduate student, who camped out for the iPhone 3G stated,
"Chicks dig the iPhone".